The Times of Our Lives
by Hail the Wolves
Summary: Three shot. The major points in the lives of one Santana Lopez and Rachel Berry, and how fate sometimes has a way of laying it's hand.


Rachel would always remember how Santana was the first friend she ever made.

And how she was also the first friend she ever lost.

Play group had been the start of it all. The ones existing in town already wouldn't accept either girl; Rachel because of her fathers and Santana because of her heritage. The mothers of the newest generation of Lima, Ohio were not very gracious people, and refused to expose their children to such heinous ways of life (read: culture and bloodlines.)

When the parents found out about this blatant hate, the two couples met to form their own little group, and even though it was just their two daughters, it was better than the young girls playing alone.

Rachel barely remembered this part of her friendship. She had only been about two or three, and she simply couldn't reach back that far. But she did remember how their friendship wasn't always perfect. Rachel liked to listen to show tunes and play dress up, while Santana liked to run around the yard. When the two of them were forced together for their semi-weekly play date, both would sulk in the corner until one of them gave in from the boredom, because the parents certainly weren't going to entertain them. Eventually, a happy medium was found: using Rachel's love for the dramatic and Santana's desire to be everywhere at once, the little ones came up with the most fantastic tales of grandeur, of princes and princesses and slaying the dragon (to which Rachel would always shed a tear, because the dragon, played by Santana's stuffed toy, was simply misunderstood). So Santana would play the brave knight who rescued the beautiful Princess Rachel from the castle, and then whisk her away to a new land where they would live happily ever after.

Rachel loved those memories.

Eventually, it was time for kindergarten. Rachel and Santana were in the same district (barely a few houses away from each other) and thankfully in the same elementary school. They had even been lucky enough to be scheduled in the afternoon group instead of the morning, so they were always together.

Rachel couldn't have been happier. She had her best friend, she was finally in school, and life just seemed perfect for the small five-year old.

That was of course, until first grade started.

They were officially moving up into the big kid's school; gone were the half days of kindergarten, and on to the full days of elementary school. At first Rachel had been ecstatic. She was growing up, becoming a big girl, and she had her best friend Santana right by her side, just like always. Until she found out that Santana had been put in Ms. Howard's class instead of Mrs. Jacksons'.

She cried for a while, until Santana wrapped her tiny arm around her, telling her that "she would never leave her princesa alone, and that they would spend every minute of recess together." Rachel believed her, kissed her on the cheek, and informed her that they were now on the moon and the martians were holding her hostage. She always found a way to make their game new.

Things were fine for a while; as soon as recess would start, Rachel and Santana would run to each other and take over the monkey bars as their personal kingdom. They could touch the sky or higher if they wanted to; Rachel just knew that as long as they were together, things would work out.

But then Brittany Pierce showed up. Not so much as "showed up" as "became Santana's desk-mate". Rachel wanted to like her, she really did. She had pictured how wonderful it would be if she and Santana could have another friend to play with. But Santana started bringing Brittany into their kingdom. Santana's seat on the monkey bars became Brittany's, and Rachel's became Santana's, and then Rachel didn't know where to sit down.

Santana began scheduling more and more play-dates with Brittany. Instead of all together, like it started out, it would just be Brittany and Santana.

It was then that Rachel started to get mad. Santana was _her_ best friend, not Brittany's. She had known her the longest, had been her friend forever. So Rachel did the only thing she could think of. She tried to replace Santana.

It proved a lot harder than she thought. The children in her class didn't seem to want to take to her. They didn't like how she knew big words and could finish all the assignments before them. They didn't like her over active imagination and its ability to weave tall tales. Not even Kurt, the small boy who also liked to listen to Anything Goes, would talk to her. But she couldn't give in; she couldn't let Santana see her moping around, being all sad that her best friend had been stolen away.

But Rachel couldn't fight her nature. She felt this desperate need to apologize, even though she wasn't sure what she had done wrong. So she resolved to make amends with her best friend, to find her and make her see the light. So after she was dropped off at home ( her babysitter picked her up from the bus stop because dad and daddy worked until five), she snuck out when the teen turned on the TV, and walked down the street to Santana's house.

When she knocked, Mrs. Lopez answered the door. She informed the young girl that Santana was at the community park with others, right down the street, and a few other parents were there with them.

Rachel smiled and thanked her; she did always like the woman, and liked to think of her as the mommy she didn't have sometimes. Rachel began the quick walk down to the park, wondering what Mrs. Lopez meant by "others".

As soon as she walked up to the chain link fence of the enclosed park, she saw what Santana's mother had meant.

Santana and Brittany, plus Quinn Fabray, Noah Puckerman, and David Karofsky were all running around the park, yelling and shouting as they chased each other over the equipment. Rachel felt her small heart plummet; why hadn't Santana invited her to play with everyone?

She called out to her friend, waiting for a response. After a minute, she called again when Santana didn't answer, finally gaining her attention.

"Hi," Rachel said, her voice timid.

Santana stuffed her hands inside of her overall pockets. "Hi," she mumbled back.

"I was um, I was just wondering if it be alright if, uh, if I could play as well? I already finished my assignments on the way home and I think it would be a lot of fun, I could help come up with a game if you'd like-"

"No."

The quiet word cut Rachel off immediately. Santana wasn't looking at her. She kept glancing between the ground and the other children, who were yelling at her to get back in the game.

"W-why not?" Rachel's lower lip began to tremble, as she watched her once closest friend take a step back.

"Cause… cause only the cool kids are allowed to play here, and you aren't a cool kid," Santana said slowly, as though she was repeating dialogue she had just memorized.

"But Tana, I don't understand…" Rachel took two steps closer to Santana, only to find herself suddenly sprawled on the ground, with Santana's face wide with shock and the other kid's laughter ringing in the air. She didn't even attempt to exit gracefully or with poise; she simply scrabbled up, tears streaming down her face, feeling her heart crack and splinter as she lost her only friend.

After that, school lost a lot of its appeal for Rachel. Every time she saw Santana, her heart cracked once again. And once the other kids saw that she was no longer playing with the fiery Latina, they weren't afraid to step up their teasing. Before, it had been mild at best; no one, even at that age, wanted to mess with Santana Lopez. Or anyone associated with Santana Lopez. But Rachel no longer had that protection. Word spread like wildfire through the entire first grade that it was open season on Rachel Berry.

It wasn't like Rachel didn't try to get her best friend back. That just wasn't in the Berry nature. But every time she arrived at the Lopez household, she would the shouts of the other children, and would run before she could chance getting caught by the others.

Rachel began to find solace in her dance and singing classes. Instead of play dates and sleepovers, she filled her after school time with tap, ballet, the community children's choir, and anything that would help her on her way to Broadway. What had once been merely a dream, something far off and for big kids, was now it was her sole goal in life. She was going to get there. She was going to make it big and show all those stupid kids back home that Rachel Berry was the cool one, and always would be.

That didn't mean it didn't hurt every day though. The next ten years Rachel watched as her former best friend became this mean, hurtful bully, and the rest of her classmates consistently refused to accept her. But she was Rachel Berry, and she was going to be a star. No matter what it took.


End file.
